Can you believe it will be 50 years this December since we first met Rocky Balboa & Sylvester Stallone? An all-time sports movie classic with a behind-the-scenes rags to riches story of its own, 1976's original ROCKY still packs a punch. Sylvester Stallone had appeared in small roles in Woody Allen's "Bananas" and "The Lords of Flatbush". His script for Rocky was his passion project and he was eventually offered $350K for the screenplay, a record at the time. In a Rocky-like

Grossing four times its $100 million budget, 2001's THE MUMMY RETURNS was that rare blockbuster sequel that outperformed the original hit. It's easy to see why. Everyone we loved in the first adventure is back for more and everything feels bigger in scope and execution. Other than the fact that it's about 15 minutes too long, THIS is how you deliver a follow up! Brendan Fraser is in fine form as adventurer Rick O'Connell, still chasing Egyptian artifacts with his wife Evelyn

Disney & Pixar hit the sweet spot with their hugely enjoyable, original animated film HOPPERS. An absolute blast of fun and action for all ages, the film manages to mix coming-of-age, an ecological message and broad comedy into one very tasty meal. Writer/Director Daniel Chong, leading his first big screen effort, weaves a clever tale, starting with introducing us to Mabel (Lila Liu as a child,Piper Curda as a teen) as she attempts to free all the pet animals in her school, "

After Tom Selleck had to turn down the part of Indiana Jones due to his commitment to "Magnum PI"on CBS, he starred in a steady string of action flicks in the early 80's, searching to breakout as a movie star. Suffice to say, 1984's RUNAWAY didn't prove to be that vehicle. Written and Directed by Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park, Rising Sun) this is Crichton slumming with a mediocre budget, a paper-thin story and routine characters. In the near future, (which looks very much l

A noisy mess of a misfire that's almost saved by Trey Parker's genius voice work, MINIONS & MONSTERS isn't fun enough for kids, interesting enough for adults or for that matter, entertaining for anyone. We had four adults and 8 kids from 4 to 9 years old, a viewing dozen. It was unanimous, no one liked it. At all. And we're Minions and Despicable Me fans! The film starts with a tour of a modern day studio, with Tour Guide Olivia (Allison Janney, given NOTHING to do) leading a

An absolute horror rampage of graphic gore, laughs and suspense, EVIL DEAD BURN is every bit the equal of 2023's "Evil Dead Rise", spewing forth the crazy tale of a new family facing their very twisted & determined demons. The unchallenged star of this well directed new entry is Cinematographer Philip Lozano (The Transporter). His camerawork here is a genius series of thrill rides that defy logic. I laughed out loud at least four times as his camera found a new way to depict

We're huge Gordon Ramsay fans. We watch all his shows and have enjoyed eating at many of his restaurants around the globe. You'd think we'd know a bit about the man. But the six episode documentary BRING GORDON RAMSAY revealed a Gordon that we've never met over the last couple decades. Hilarious, intense and gripping from the first moments, we dive into a one-on-one interview that peels back layers of his past, revealing deep seated history that has driven him to be one of th

I don't get all the grumbling about Disney's new live-action take on MOANA. It's stunning to look at, happy, hilarious and heartfelt. What more can you want in family entertainment? I think a lot of people just like to complain. Our preview night crowd absolutely loved every minute of the film, led by Dwayne Johnson at his absolute best and incredible newcomer Catheine Laga-Aia. She's a gifted performer with a superb voice and screen presence, well directed by the sure hand o

Los Angeles has rarely looked as beautiful and exciting as it does in Michael Mann's 1995 crime thriller masterpiece HEAT. From its opening shot to its last, this is nearly three hours of great cops and robbers storytelling, packed with suspense and violence. It's easily in my Top 50 films of all time. Robert DeNiro is McCauley, leading a sophisticated team of criminals who use precise planning and perfect timing to execute an escalating series of daring robberies. McCauley's

Meh. All promise and little payoff, UNDERTONE wastes an interesting premise with too much aimless wandering in search of scares. We're getting spoiled by low budget horror game changers like "Backrooms" and "Obsession", but this one was also a substantial hit, earning over $21 million at the box office against a $500k budget. Filmed mostly in his childhood home, Writer/Director Ian Tuason introduces us to Evy Babic (the very good Nina Kiri from "The Handsmaid Tale") who is ta